


Addie

by Higgles123



Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:53:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27285217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higgles123/pseuds/Higgles123
Summary: After losing Cyril, Alfie is adamant he doesn't want another dog... but the universe has other ideas
Relationships: Alfie Solomons/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	Addie

Alfie did not want another dog. He was adamant. After losing Cyril two months ago, his heart just couldn’t take the loss again; nor could he bare to listen to gut wrenching sounds of his children sobbing when they found out that their furry friend had gone to doggy heaven. So even though he missed walking through the front door after work to be attacked with slobbering kisses- that weren’t from Ava- and he missed being able to eat all of his dinner without smelly dog farts in the air, he most definitely did not want another dog. Honestly.

So when Alfie climbed out of the car that evening and waved goodbye to Ishmael, he ignored the stray dog that was sat outside the front door waiting for him again. She was a sweet thing; a black spaniel with curly ears that pricked up excitedly when she saw him and a tail that wagged wildly when he walked up the path. But as much as Alfie wanted to reach down and stroke her, or usher her inside out of the cold, he just couldn’t do it. So with her pitiful whining stabbing at his heart, he stepped over her and closed the door shut in her face.

“Hello ladies,” Alfie called out, hanging his coat and hat on the hook.

“Dadada,” his little Jacob came tottering towards him on wobbly legs that had only just learned to walk.

“You definitely aint a lady, are you my little man?” Alfie grinned, scooping the little boy up into his arms. “Did you miss me today, my boy?”

“I missed you, Daddy,” Hannah came running down the stairs and wrapped herself around Alfie’s waist.

“Missed you too, my little Hannah bear,” Alfie bent down to kiss her on the top of the head. “How’d you do in your spellin’ test today?”

“I only got ‘difficult’ wrong,” she said proudly.

“Well that’s a stupid word anyway, innit?” Alfie smirked. “Your mum and the other two in the kitchen?”

“Well Mummy and Soraya are in there, but Raisa got sent to her room for being rude.”

“Course she did,” Alfie rolled his eyes. “Right come on you two, I’m starvin’.”

Soraya was sat at the table colouring in while Ava finished setting the food down, and they both looked up when Alfie walked in.

“Daddy!” Soraya squealed excitedly.

“Hello poppet,” Alfie patted the top of her head as he set Jacob down in his high chair. “How’s my little sunshine? What you drawin’?”

“A picture of mummy tellin’ Raisa off and then Raisa stompin’ up the stairs,” Soraya replied, the tip of her tongue sticking out slightly in concentration.

“She been a devil again?” Alfie asked, grabbing Ava by the waist and pulling her to him for a kiss.

“I think the devil himself would be frightened of that one,” Ava grinned, kissing Alfie back. Even after so many years married, she still had butterflies in her stomach whenever he came back home from work. “I swear she’s a little teenager already.”

“Want me to call her down?”

“No,” Ava shook her head. “I took her dinner up to her just before you got in and said she can stay up there until bath time to think about her behaviour.”

“Christ, and people say I’m harsh,” Alfie pulled a face, even though he agreed with Ava’s actions completely.

“You’re just a great big teddy bear really,” Ava winked.

“Oh god, wink at me like that again and I might have to throw you over my shoulder and carry you to bed,” Alfie wriggled his eyebrows.

“Can you carry me up to bed over your shoulder, Daddy?” Soraya asked innocently.

“Course I can poppet,” Alfie chuckled, smirking at his wife as they all took their seats at the table.

“And me, Daddy!” Hannah declared.

“Yes, and you,” Alfie nodded, taking his seat at the table. “Cor Ava, this smells lovely.”

And it tasted just as good as it smelled too; the silence around the table spoke of that, and Ava realised that the only time her family were quiet was when they were filling their faces with food.

“That bloody dog was outside again when I was comin’ in,” Alfie commented as he reached over to help Soraya cut her beef up.

“Oh really?” Ava asked casually. “The black one?”

“The spaniel, yeah?” Alfie nodded. “Every bloody day it’s there now.”

“That’s cos Mummy keeps feeding it,” Soraya announced, fully unaware of the consequences of her innocent words.

“Oh she does?” Alfie eyed Ava pointedly but she looked down at her plate, refusing to meet his gaze.

“Just every now and then,” she shrugged.

“That’s not true, Mummy,” Soraya frowned. “You feed it every morning when Daddy goes to work and then you feed it before he gets home again.”

“Well the poor bloody thing is starving,” Ava mumbled. “And you have admit she’s kind of adorable.”

“I don’t give a shi… a shining star if it’s cute or not,” Alfie shook his head, careful not to swear; especially because they had only just gotten Hannah to stop saying the ‘f’ word. “You start feedin’ stray dogs and then before you know it they won’t leave you alone.”

“Well perhaps she doesn’t have to leave us alone. It’s obvious she doesn’t belong to anyone so perhaps we could keep her?”

Alfie dropped his fork down onto his plate with a clang and clenched his jaw in annoyance. What part of him not wanting another dog did Ava not understand? He decided he needed to show her how serious he was so without another word he pushed his chair back and stood up, before marching towards the front door. As expected, the dog was waiting for him the second he opened the door, and with a loud clap and his scariest voice he told the dog to fuck off.

“Alfie,” Ava was aghast. “What the hell are you doing?”

“What you should have done when that mutt first started showin’ up here,” he spat, slamming the door shut once the dog had scampered off down the road with a whine that he pretended didn’t affect him in the slightest.

“What are you doing now?” Ava asked as Alfie began to climb the stairs.

“Going for a bath, is that ok?”

“What about the rest of your dinner?” Ava frowned.

“I aint hungry no more,” he grumbled. “Go and find another dog to feed it to or summit, yeah.”

Ava sighed, feeling terrible that Alfie was so upset. She had been biding her time about the spaniel, waiting for the right moment to introduce the idea to Alfie because she knew full well that he was missing Cyril terribly, and another dog would be just the thing to help him through his grief. But then of course Soraya had ratted her out and there had been no other choice but to go along with the premature suggestion. From the kitchen, Ava heard Jacob start crying and then Soraya drop her cup on the floor and she rolled her eyes. There was no time to worry about her sulking husband right now. He’d have to wait until later.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Alfie lay in bed but he wasn’t asleep. Neither was Ava; he could tell by the rhythm of her breathing. Jacob had been crying most of the evening and he had only just fallen asleep, meaning neither of them had had the chance to talk about what transpired over dinner that evening. Alfie knew that he had overreacted but he didn’t feel able to back down because he had a feeling that if he was to do so then Ava would try and broach the subject of a new dog again. But it seemed that Ava was already thinking on his wavelength because she turned to face him.

“I’m sorry, Alf,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry for trying to push you into getting another dog when you’re not ready. I won’t bring the subject up again, I promise.”

“I’m sorry too,” he sighed. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper. I just… I know Cyril was just a dog, right, but he was more than that to me. Before you came along and the kids, Cyril was my whole life and I miss him, you know. The thought of letting another dog into my heart like that and then having to deal with losin’ them terrifies me a bit.”

“I know, love,” Ava nodded in understanding, laying her head upon his chest. “Cyril was lucky to have you. My Alfie, the great big softie.”

“Yeah well don’t be tellin’ no one that or I’ll have to kill you,” he smirked.

“I’m sure you can think of a way to silence me,” Ava grinned up at him drawing a breathy chuckle from his throat.

Alfie was about to make a rather ribald remark when a noise from the front garden made them both sit upright with a start. It was most definitely a dog, but the whine that came from it was one of such pain that they both knew they needed to go and investigate. Alfie didn’t even bother throwing on any clothes and thundered down the stairs in his boxer shorts with Ava following close behind him, pulling on her dressing gown hurriedly. Alfie opened the door just in time to see the black spaniel he had sent on its way lying beneath the laurel bush in the front garden and whimpering in agony. He was beside it in a flash, kneeling down on the damp floor and as soon as the dog saw him she tried to wag her tail.

“Is she alright?” Ava asked from the doorway. “Don’t get too close, Alfie. If she’s hurt she might bite you.”

“She aint hurt, Ava,” Alfie turned to look at her. “Although her lady area is gonna be in a minute cos she’s havin’ puppies.”

“Puppies!” Ava’s eyes were wide with horror. “How do you know?”

“Cos I can see one comin’ out right now,” Alfie informed her, turning his attention back to the dog, stroking her head and murmuring to her soothingly. “Run and fetch some towels, love.”

“Can’t we bring her in? She can’t have puppies out here in the cold.”

“Better to let her deliver the first one and then we’ll move her,” Alfie decided, holding up the first puppy with a triumphant smile and pulling the membrane from its face so it could breathe. “Chuck us your dressing gown quick.”

Ava yanked her dressing gown off and threw it at Alfie before running inside for some blankets and towels.

“There you go, little one,” Alfie cooed, wrapping up the baby in the hood of the dressing gown and laying it down beside its mother’s face. She licked at the baby, cleaning it and adoring it just like any other new mother, and when Alfie scratched the dog behind the ears she nuzzled her nose against Alfie’s hand. “You’re a good girl, eh? Yes you are. Ava, you got them towels sorted?”

“Yeah they’re in the living room and I’m just lighting the fire!”

“Right well hurry up and get out here so you can carry this little pup in and I’ll grab mum,” Alfie ordered. “We’ll get you in the warm little lady before the next one comes, eh?”

Three hours and three more puppies later, Alfie sat by the fireplace watching with a smile as the new mum nursed her babies. He had stayed with her for the entire duration of her labour and even now that the puppies were here, every time he tried to move away the dog would whine and cry for him. So here he was, stroking her head which rested in his lap while Ava sat on the sofa sipping a cup of tea, hardly able to believe the night’s turn of events.

“What are we going to do with her?” she asked. “Do you want me to phone the dog shelter in the morning and ask if they can take her and the puppies?”

Alfie didn’t speak for a moment and if it wasn’t for the way he began to scratch his beard pensively, Ava would have thought he hadn’t heard her. But she could see the cogs in his head moving as he thought of how to answer her question.

“No,” he answered finally with a gentle shake of his head.

“No?” Ava frowned. “So if you don’t want me to phone the dog shelter, what _do_ you want me to do?”

“I want you to phone the vet in the mornin’ and ask him to come out and check on this lot. And then you can go to down the pet shop and get all the things on the list I’m gonna give you, because they’re stayin’ with us.”

“Until when?”

“Until forever,” Alfie looked at her as though it should have been obvious.

“We can’t have five dogs, Alfie,” Ava laughed, realising he was being deadly serious. “What happened to not wanting another dog, hmm? And now suddenly we’ve got five.”

“Yeah well after what we’ve been through tonight, I can’t let her go,” Alfie decided, leaning down to kiss the spaniel’s head and grinning when she licked his beard. “She came here to have her babies cos she obviously trusted us, even after I’d been mean to her, so there’s no chance I can send her somewhere else. She belongs here with us; they all do. And the kids’ll love it; they can have a puppy each. Teach ‘em some responsibility, won’t it?”

“Hannah and Raisa maybe, but Soraya and Jacob are far too young to look after a puppy, Alf,” Ava scoffed. “And it’s me who’ll be left trying to look after four puppies and a dog every day, not you.”

“Ava, I aint arguin’,” Alfie eyed her pointedly. “We’re keepin’ all of them. I’ll pay someone to come and help you with them when I’m at work and the kids are school, but I just can’t get rid of them. I mean, look at their little faces.”

“They are cute, I’ll give you that,” Ava sighed, knowing she had lost this battle. There was no point in even trying to make Alfie see sense.

“And you’re the cutest of them all, aint you?” Alfie murmured, leaning down to the kiss the spaniel once again. “You’re already Daddy’s best girl, aint you, Addie.”

“Addie?”

“Well she needs a name, don’t she?” Alfie smirked. “That black dog in Hannah’s story book is called Addie and I reckon it suits this one, don’t you? And then the kids can name the others in the mornin’, can’t they?”

“We’re really doing this then? We’re really going to have five dogs.”

“We sure are,” Alfie grinned.

It was funny the way the universe worked sometimes. It often gives you the things you least want but when you most need them. And in Alfie’s case, that was most definitely true.


End file.
